Rosie Gaines is an American singer and musician. After releasing her first album Caring, she was hired by Prince as a singer, vocalist and keyboard player for the Nude Tour in 1990. She was a member of the original line-up of The New Power Generation formed in 1991. Prince called her his “secret weapon”. She continued her solo career after leaving the band by releasing six albums. Her most notable hit is "Closer Than Close" released in a remixed form in 1997.

Musical Career

Early Life

Originally from Pittsburg, California and the younger daughter of ten children, Rosie Gaines began singing at the age of five. Her father was stabbed to death when she was only four years-old. She had a daughter, Latoya, at the age of thirteen.

Early Musical Career

She began her musical career in the 1980s by participating in various bands ("Unity", "A Touch Of Class" and "The Oasis") between her hometown and Oakland, California. She joined a band lead by Curtis Ohlson (former bass player of Ray Charles and Buddy Rich, with whom she was married for two years), in which Levi Seacer, Jr. also performed as a guitarist.

With Don Cornelius as manager and executive producer, they all worked together on Rosie’s first album: "Caring", released in 1985 by Epic Records. Its single, "Skool-ology" was a minor success (75th place in the R&B charts) but the album flopped. Later in the year, Levi left Curtis Ohlson’s band to join Sheila E. and then Prince subsequent years. Rosie continued to work with Curtis Ohslon, who will release two albums on which she added some vocals: "So Fast" in 1987 and "Better Than Ever" in 1989.

Rosie Gaines plays and becomes an attraction at local venues as Earle’s Solano Club, Yoshi’s and the Great American Music Hall. A second solo album, in collaboration with Curtis Ohlson and Patrick Moten was finalized and ready for release in 1987 but its release was canceled due to management changes at Epic. No Sweeter Love would finally be released in 2000.

A few weeks after the end of the Nude Tour, Rosie opens Prince's nightclub the Glam Slam with first of three concerts in October 1990. She made the cover of the January 1991 Keyboard Magazine issue with Matt Fink, before a band reconstruction and renamed The New Power Generation with the arrival of Sonny T. and Tommy Barbarella. More studio works followed with the recording of songs for Diamonds And Pearls and her solo album (planned to be titled Concrete Jungle. Together with her husband, Francis Jules and Prince, she composed The Voice and I Hear Your Voice (planned for her solo album but later offered to Mavis Staples and Patti Labelle respectively). The album Diamonds And Pearls is released in October 1991, and is the first credited to Prince & The New Power Generation. Rosie Gaines is highlighted on more than half of the album with her singing, rapping and co-writing. She is given an important place in the videos and the tour that followed the album, but behind the scenes, she suffered the bullying of some members of the band who, like during the Nude Tour, seemed to resent her prominent role on stage. She became increasingly frustrated by the income she earned, while she had a family to support. She also had a falling-out with Prince when he discovered that she approached record companies for a possible contract. Rosie Gaines quit The New Power Generation after the Diamonds And Pearls Tour but stayed in Prince’s camp, hoping to release her album on Paisley Park Records.

After leaving the Prince camp, Rosie worked on the album further, adding some new songs and removing others. Without a label, she tried unsuccessfully to release that album, now called Try Me in 1994 but gained interest from Motown. In 1995, after further work and changes, Rosie Gaines finally releases her second solo album, now called Closer Than Close, ten years after "Caring".

Closer Than Close contains eight tracks written by the trio of Rosie Gaines, Francis Jules and Dana Bailey, two covers of Bob Marley (Turn Your Lights Down Low and Concrete Jungle), and two songs by Prince (I Want U and My Tender Heart). More than half of the tracks on Closer Than Close comes various configurations of Concrete Jungle: (Turn Your Lights Down Low, I Want U, Googaga, Oooh La La, My Tender Heart, I Almost Lost You, Concrete Jungle, Get The Ghetto Off Your Mind).
The album did not gain a lot of attention, but the single "Closer Than Close" was released to some success in its remixed version two years later. The song would reach the 4th place in the UK and became a dance-club favorite. Many dance remixes by various DJs would be produced with varying interest. Despite the success of the song (almost one million copies sold), Rosie Gaines had to launch a legal action against Peter Williamsons and his label Big Bang Records. The case went nowhere as Peter Williamson was already in jail serving a five-year sentence for theft. The other two singles I Want U and "Are You Ready" would have a much more moderate success. Over twenty remixes of I Want U would also be made by outside producers. A video for My Tender Heart exists, shot while Gaines was still on Paisley Park Records, but the song was not released as a single.

In 1997, Rosie Gaines creates her own independent label (Dredlix Records) and opens her own website to distribute her music, www.rosiegaines.com (now closed). Her third official solo album in February 1997, "Arrival" with 10 songs composed by her with Dana Bailey and her husband Francis Jules (the trio being called the Dredlix team). Two singles would be released from that album "Stomp" and "Do Not Let'Em". The latter would be rerecorded by Boosty Collins in 2002 with Rosie Gaines and Snoop Dogg for his album Play with Bootsy: A Tribute to the Funk. "Arrival" would be pressed on CD with 2,000 copies made and sold exclusively on her website in 2002.

In 2000, Expansion Records releases her 1987 album "No Sweeter Love" made during her time with Curtis Ohlson and produced by Patrick Moten. The album was ‘lost’ after management changes at Epic Records, but was rescued by the label and released after Patrick Moten’s passing in 1999.

Exploding All Over Europe, written by Prince and Ingrid Chavez in 1990 and remixed by Junior Vasquez was offered for download through Gaines' website. She also offered other unreleased songs and versions, including the original (Paisley Park version) of I Want U. Many remixes or collaborations with artists in the house scene help her to keep a relative exposure at the end of the 90’s.

In 2004, she published her fifth solo album "You Gave Me Freedom". All the song were written and performed by Rosie Gaines, with the help of the Dredlix team and Scott Gibson. The transitional album Try Me originally planned for release in 1994 is offered for download on rosiegaines.com in 2005. The following year, "Welcome To My World" is released with the house label SUsu. With Francis Jules and Dana Bailey on most tracks, this album contains a remix of "Closer Than Close" and new compositions. None of those albums had any chart impact.

Since these releases, Rosie Gaines has been retracted from the public eye, both on her site and on social networks. She gave her last performance in London in 2011. Her eighth album "Soul Survivor" which combines songs from "You Gave Me Freedom", "Arrival" and new compositions receives a low-key release on the internet.

Her health condition had deteriorated through the years. In 2009, she was she was admitted to the psychiatric ward of a hospital in Rotterdam, after an insulin overdose and seizure. A missing person report was filed by her daughter Latoya Gaines at some point in 2014. Rosie Gaines was found living in a homeless shelter in Richmond, Virginia and she refused housings offered by her friends. During that year, nobody was able to reach her, as she had no telephone and no internet connection. She wasn't able to collect her royalties since her bank accounts were closed and had no clothes except pajamas. In December 2014, Rosie Gaines was hospitalized again after her legs had become swollen and seriously infected since she stopped taking her insulin. Her friend and singer Brenda Vaughn organised a fundraiser benefit with dozens of artists mainly from Oakland including Levi Seacer, Jr., Tony Toni Tone’sD’Wayne Wiggins and Maxine Jones of En Vogue in january 2015 at at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in Oakland, California. Prince got in touch with Rosie Gaines and offered help.